Shuffle Drabble: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Edition
by creativeisolation
Summary: So I had a genius idea to pick several songs off my iPod's shuffle cycle and write a Buffy oneshot based on what came to my head when I saw the title. So here ya go! Sorry it's so short, but I've run out of ideas... xP
1. Love Is

**Love Is...**

Song: "Love Is..."

Artist: Jea & Miryo

Pairing: Spiffy [Spike/Buffy]

Disclaimer: I consider myself a Whedonist, so no disrespect is intended! I don't own Buffy! If I did, the Spike movie would be on, Angel would never have had his own side series, and the show would still be alive and well

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><p><em>Crazy. <em>Buffy thought as she prepared Dawn's lunch. _Love is absolutely crazy._ But the twenty-something Slayer wasn't thinking - or grumbling, rather - about how early she'd had to wake up this morning, or how demanding her little sister was about her lunch. She was focused more on the recent craziness surrounding her friends and their relationships; Anya and Xander's hectic breakup at the altar, Willow and Tara separating and coming back together...

_You falling for Spike._ A part of her brain reminded.

"Shut up!" She told it. Out loud. Oops.

"Um, morning Buffy and Company..." Dawn said slowly as she entered the kitchen. The elder Summers girl turned around with a plastered-on sunny smile.

"Hey Dawn! Ready for school?"

"If by school you mean the daily torture facility where I'm supposed to 'learn'," she was careful to emphasize the air quotes around "learn", "then I guess so." Buffy kissed the crown of her head.

"Oh come on, can't be _that_ bad." She insisted without conviction. After all, she'd hated school just as much, if not more, as Dawn did. Sensing her sister's zero confidence in the statement, Dawn snorted.

"Yes, it most definitely is. But I go, because if I don't..." She looked at the kitchen island, not finishing her sentence, but Buffy knew what she meant. Instead of finishing the dismal thought, she hugged Dawn tightly but briefly.

"Well, you should get going then. You'll be late." Dawn rolled her eyes, grabbed the lunch and gave Buffy a goodbye kiss before disappearing through the kitchen door. Now alone in the large house, Buffy lowered herself into the chair Dawn had vacated and stared sadly around the kitchen.

_It seems so sad and empty now._ She thought sadly. She stood quickly and hurried, with unusual eagerness, to get ready for her shift at the Doublemeat Palace. At least there'd be people there.

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><p>She ended up being rather wrong, however, and after several long, agonizingly slow hours, she was allowed to leave.<p>

The house was still empty when she arrived, a note on the fridge from Dawn alerting her to a study group at Janice's house. A hollow feeling settled itself somewhere in Buffy's heart and she meandered slowly up to her bedroom to change and prep for patrolling.

Her room did not end up being the safe haven for loneliness and a pity party that she'd hoped, however. For when she went in, she discovered an unexpected guest.

"Spike." She deadpanned. The Billy Idol-look alike vampire grinned.

"Hello there, love. Looking a little blue. Work not treatin' you well?" He asked teasingly. Buffy rolled her eyes and tossed her coat on the bed.

"Either tell me something's out there waiting for me to kick its ass or go away, Spike." She said wearily. Instead, he pushed himself off the wall and stepped toward her.

"Don't much feel like it." He answered pleasantly. She backed away toward the door several steps. He advanced as well, reaching behind her head and closing the door. Buffy held her breath, searching for a way around him to her weapons cache as he loomed over her.

"Well you should learn to be less lazy." She said distractedly. As she said this, Spike leaned forward and captured her mouth with his. It took Buffy's brain several seconds of not doing anything to realize what was going on. She shoved him back, glaring and wiping her mouth with disgust.

"Oh god Spike! No!" She yelled. Having regained his balance, Spike laughed.

"Come on, it'll help you work off the tension you're obviously feeling." He insisted. Glaring, Buffy snatched the wooden cross from her dresser and held it up in his direction. He gave an exasperated sigh.

"Geez Buffy, we both know you're just afraid that someone's gonna find out. And we're the only one's here. So what's the problem?"

"The _problem_ is that last time we did this, I woke up feeling disgusted with myself. And I'm sick of feeling like that." Spike took a step closer and Buffy raised the cross to his eye-level. "Not another step!" He stepped to the side and just as Buffy was moving the cross to follow, Spike reached over and knocked it from her hand. As fell to the ground across the room, he shook his singed hand. Before Buffy could successfully reach the weapons chest, he'd grabbed her waist.

"How you feeling now, Slayer?" He whispered in her ear.

"Like staking you to dust." She managed. She tried to take a deep breath to slow her heavy breathing, but then Spike was kissing her again and she responded with wrapping her arms around him with all her strength, hopping up so her legs were around his waist. As his lips moved from hers, Buffy's mind came back to her thought from that morning. _Love is crazy._

_But, _she thought as Spike led her to her bed, _love is also wonderful._

_ Crazy wonderful._

FIN(N) [yes, pun intended]


	2. I'll Be Back

**I'll Be Back**

Song: "I'll Be Back"

Artist: 2PM

Pairing: None; Well, Spike and Dawn, I guess, but not romantically.

Disclaimer: Once again, don't own Buffy. Also, there is no precise quoting, aside from Dawn's remark about the present, and her convo with Spike, both of which you I copied from Imdb!

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><p>"I'll be right back."<p>

"I just gotta take care of this thing..."

"Sorry Dawnie, but I gotta..."

"I'll be home as soon as possible."

These were the things Dawn Summers constantly heard from her older sister Buffy, and Buffy's friends. Everyone seemed to think that she was too young to do anything, especially take care of herself.

"They don't know anything." She muttered in the spirit of true teenage-dom. It didn't help that lately everyone had been super skittish around her. It was obvious they knew something they were trying to keep from her, but all she knew was that it had something to do with this... "Key". Oh, and the killer hellgod Glory.

She glanced at Buffy and her friends, the pile of presents in front of her sister, and felt a surge of annoyance. Of course they didn't know anything; they were all far too busy paying attention to Buffy.

By the time Buffy got to her present, Dawn was silently fuming, but kept her best neutral face. When Buffy opened it, the entire room fell silent. It was simple really; a frame onto which Dawn had attached seashells from their trip to San Diego, a picture of her Buffy on the same beach inside. As the silence persisted and everyone began getting teary, Dawn finally said, "Well, jeez, don't get all movie-of-the-week. I was just too cheap to buy you a real present."

"It's beautiful. Thank you, Dawn." Buffy said quietly, giving her a big hug. Dawn just nodded.

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><p>Later, Dawn was sent to retrieve plates for the cake. Hearing her mom, Buffy and Giles chatting in the kitchen, she stopped to listen. Her moment of eavesdropping was ruined, however, when Buffy called "Dawn? What are you doing?" Hiding her annoyance, Dawn stepped into view.<p>

"I was gonna get plates. You know, for the cake?" She said. Buffy nodded and pointed.

"Right there." Wordlessly, Dawn grabbed the aforementioned stack of plastic plates and headed back to the living room. Her entrance was once again greeted with silence as she set the plates down. Noticing, she turned to look at everyone.

"What? What is with you all lately? You're all acting like you have something to hide from me! Can't you just come out and say it? It's not like I'm not old enough to handle whatever it is! You're all just- UGH!" She yelled, then stormed upstairs to her room. Slamming her door, she collapsed on her bed. She lay there for a while, angry and wanting to scream. Then, she remembered the strange book Buffy and Giles had been pouring over at the Magic Box. Maybe, just maybe, it could tell her what the hell was going on here.

She stood up and shrugged on her coat. Then, going to her window, she carefully began the trip down the trellis at the side of the house. _I'll be back before they can even remember to miss me._ She thought bitterly.

Landing quietly, she turned around to see Spike approaching the house with a box of chocolates.

"Jeez, lurk much?" She said, trying to hide that he'd scared her.

"I wasn't lurkin'. I was standin' about. It's a whole different vibe." The vampire insisted. Dawn nodded.

"Mm-hm."

"What about you? Shouldn't you be tucked away in your beddy-bye all warm and safe where nothing can eat you?" He asked.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" She countered skeptically.

"Little tremble wouldn't hurt."

"Sorry, it's just - Come on, I'm badder than you."

"Are not." Spike argued indignantly.

"Am too." She shot back. "You're standing in the bushes hugging a bent box of chocolates, and I'm..."

"What? Sneaking out to braid hair and watch Teletubbies with your mates?" He asked dryly.

"No!" She defended. "I'm going to the Magic Box to steal some stuff." She started walking away and he followed easily.

"Magic shop, eh? All number of beasties between here and there. Bet they'd really go for a Little Red Riding Hood like you. That wouldn't set too well with big sister." He said lightly. Dawn gulped subtly and looked straight ahead so he wouldn't see how he'd gotten under her skin.

"I can take care of myself." She insisted. After a moment, though, she asked, "You wanna come steal some stuff?" Spike shrugged, either not picking up on her uneasiness or just choosing to ignore it.

"Yeah, all right." As they set off, Dawn cast one more look at the house she called a home.

_ Yeah, I'll be back._ She thought angrily. _But this time, you won't be able to get away with the silent treatment._


	3. Lonely

**Lonely**

Song: "LONELY"

Artist: 2NE1

Pairing: None, really.

Disclaimer: I'm still praying that I will someday buy out Joss Whedon's rights on Buffy. :/

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><p>Buffy sat in the kitchen of the home she shared with her best friend Willow, Willow's girlfriend, Tara, and her younger sister Dawn. Despite the presence of leftovers her from her housemates' dinner, her appetite continued to elude her. Not that she wasn't hungry, but the effort in heating and eating the food seemed like such a waste.<p>

_After all, what's the point? I'll just get hungry again anyway._ She thought, though it had nothing to do with why she was moping. But the distraction from the real reason was more than welcome.

Buffy was dwelling on a conversation she'd had the other day with Spike. She had told the soulless evil that she believed she'd been brought from Heaven when resurrected by her well-meaning friends. Ever since she'd crawled from her grave, the idea had come to her every now and then and filled her with a depressing hollowness.

A loneliness, she realized, was what it was. One the likes of which she hadn't felt since before she'd died. The idea alone of it made her sad and feel like crying. She couldn't tell them the truth, because they'd wanted her back so bad, but not telling just made the hurt even worse.

With a sigh, Buffy dragged herself up the stairs to her room. The hall of doors on the second floor was silent, solidifying Buffy's feeling of isolation. A small part of her kept trying to insist that feeling all lonely and mopey was silly, and more Angel's style than her own, but with no one to talk to about her misery, she found no other solution than moping.

_You could always talk to Spike. _Her mind prodded. While she knew that Spike's creepy ass obsession with her would make him more than willing to listen, she couldn't bring all of herself into agreement on that plan. After all, he was a creep; an evil, soulless, obsessive creep. If she tried to talk to him, he'd probably just try to use that to his advantage.

_But he's been okay. The last time you two talked all he did was listen._

_ He was stuck in that alley because it was the middle of the day! It's not like he had anything better to do! _

_But he could've made some sort of snide remark or something. __**But he didn't.**_ With a groan, Buffy fell back onto her bed and rubbed her face with the heels of her hands. She knew that having an argument with herself was a bad sign, a sign that her lack of person-to-person interaction was starting to wear on her post-resurrection-unstable mentality, but by the name of all things unholy it was the only option she seemed to have. And it was certainly much better than pretending to be happy all the time.

_That's it. _She decided. _I'm going to the Bronze._

Sitting alone at a bar with some foufy drink she couldn't remember the name of was not, as it turned out, much better at all. The only other possible courses of action were dancing- which she couldn't work up the energy or caring to do- or socialize with a random stranger, which just plain creeped her out.

"Hey there." A voice next to her said. Buffy started and looked to her right to find some average-looking Joe she didn't know smiling openly at her. She blinked.

"Um, hi." She responded. "'Kay, not such a genius response." He chuckled and held out his hand.

"Kevin." She shook it.

"Buffy." He raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind. So, what's a nice girl like you doing out without any friends? And drinking brightly-colored drinks that obviously don't reflect your mood?" Kevin asked, a concerned look on his face. For some reason, this was funny to Buffy and she hadn't even finished her first drink. As she began outright laughing, Kevin's concerned look deepened. "I say something funny?"

"Well, it's just that," Buffy began as she tried to catch her breath, "you're right on. About the colors and no friends and whatnot."

"I'm afraid I don't get the joke."

"Darn, I was hoping you could tell me what it was." Kevin smiled a little at that and Buffy allowed herself to admit that he wasn't too awful to look at. Just as quickly, though, she knew that a new relationship wasn't something she was ready for at this point. The somewhat dour thought caused her smile to disappear. "Sorry, it was nice to meet you, but I really... I mean, I came here to think, I guess and-"

"Don't worry, I get it." Kevin said, looking a little put out, but smiling despite it. "Enjoy your night, Buffy."

"You too." She said halfheartedly to his back. She swiveled back around on her stool and stared meaningfully into her drink for a moment, then sighed. As she cast a sidelong gaze at the stool Kevin had vacated, a realization dawned on her.

"I'm _lonely_." She whispered to herself, appalled. As the one and only Slayer (well, the only one actually doing her job), Buffy had always had felt a strange distance from her loved ones, but never had it hit her so hard as it did right then. Unknowingly, a few tears slid their way down her cheeks and into her drink and Buffy pushed it away from her, trying in vain to remove the mascara she knew was running down her cheeks. Getting up, she hurried as fast as she could out of the club.

That night, she didn't sleep alone.

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><p><em>Tee hee, cliffy! So who do you think Buffy was with that night? Even I don't know, to be honest.<em>

_Sorry it's been so long since my last update! Super busy and working on some other stuff lately. I should be picking this back up though! Please review! :)_


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